The Joint Partnership Event in Asia-Pacific

Eighteen organisations from the Wycliffe Global Alliance’s Asia-Pacific Area participated in God’s Word for All – Together for Transformation. Many of the attendees said it was an eye-opening opportunity to see organisations from so many countries serving together to translate God’s Word. Others were inspired to pray for this work, and still others pledged to support projects financially.

The joint partnership online event was held on 21 May 2022, and co-hosted through the collaborative efforts of the Asia-Pacific Area Leadership Team, 18 Alliance organisations and SIL Asia.

Charles Ho, Wycliffe Singapore’s Executive Director speaks to the local participants of the God’s Word for All event. (Photo: Simon Wan)

Synchronous yet Diversified Programme

This was the second year for the area to run this event, but the number of participating Alliance organisations grew from six to 18, representing 14 countries.

Like last year, the programme consisted of two sections. In the synchronised section, participants from all countries met in a single Zoom room for the welcome message, “roll-call” and a greeting from Stephen Coertze, the Alliance’s executive director.

Then in the individual section, Alliance organisations ran their own local programmes either fully on Zoom, or in a hybrid form of both physical and virtual meetings. All the messages in this section were pre-recorded in videos and subtitled in English, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, Korean and Thai.

While several Alliance organisations joined the main English programme screened by the Area Leadership Team, GBT, Wycliffe Japan, Wycliffe Philippines, Wycliffe Thai Foundation, and GMIM PPA (joined by YMP3) decided to run the programme in their own ways on the same day. A few organisations, like Wycliffe Singapore, Wycliffe Malaysia, Wycliffe Taiwan and PNGBTA, planned to run the programmes on later dates according to their own needs.

This diversity was exactly what the Area Leadership Team aimed to see. In video format, the team provided key messages, which are like tools in the toolbox for individual organisations to pick and use to suit their own settings.

The total number of participants is yet to be announced, but it was encouraging to see that the main English programme on 21 had at least 300 sign-ins from various countries.

The event’s invitation ecard.

Event programme 

A Brief Introduction on Wycliffe Global Alliance

Keynote Message:
Rev Bambang Widjaja

Notes from Mission Leaders:
Min-young Jung, Rev Dr Patrick Fung, Bishop Hwa Yung, Alex Mathew, Lawrence Tong and Dr Omar Djoeandy.

The Mosaic of Bible Translation:
A showcase on how Alliance organisations in Asia-Pacific participate in the movement.

Life Transformation:
Translation workers from PNG, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines share the impact of the translated Scriptures in local communities.

Snapshots of Local Programmes

Sulawesi, Indonesia — GMIM PPA ran their live, local partnership programme called “Retreat Mapalus” on 21-22 May. Among the 57 participants, about 22 couples and 6 singles committed to financial support, or a support to translation workshops by providing facilities, accommodation or food. With the success this year, PPA has decided to run the event again next year.

Philippines — Wycliffe Philippines’ local programme was run on the same day, where about 40 people attended online. CEO Edith Sola mentioned three amazing moments from the event: 1. It was so encouraging that they received 2 donations right after the programme; 2. Edith forgot to bring the power cord for her computer, but God sustained the battery until the last minute of the whole programme before it died; 3. Though their emcee was new and inexperienced, she did really well!

Singapore – Wycliffe Singapore’s physical programme on 28 May gathered over 80 people. To know more, click here.

Story: Ling Lam, Wycliffe Global Alliance